KARACHI: With only nine qualified emergency medicine specialists for more than 220 million population, Pakistan has a long way to go to make an impact on saving lives.

Studies have also found significant gaps in the availability of essential resources, accessibility and staff training in emergency care in the country.

These views were shared by experts at the 21st National Health Sciences Research Symposium of Aga Khan University (AKU), which opened on Friday and will conclude on Sunday.

The theme of this year is `Emergency medicine: time and life matter` Speaking on the symposium`s second day, Dr Adnan Hyder, senior associate deanfor research and professor of global health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, took up the subject of moral dilemmas in emergencies and challenges in applied ethics and said that safe systems were needed to create an environment forlearningin criticalareas.

`Research is an integral component of emergency medicine as it allows improvements in patient care and the system. However, it is the responsibility of emergency care providers to consider ethical obligations while conducting research in the emergency room and the role of ethics committees to help create safe systems for learning in critical areas,` he explained.

In her talk, Dr Barbra Villona, an international emergency physician and American College of Emergency Physicians` ambassador to Pakistan, explained what current evidence showed about physician gender bias and why it needed to be addressed.

`Gender bias has created a gap in medicine but it is not a gap between men and women. It is a gap between where we are and where we need to be,` said Dr Villona.

Dr Taj Hassan, consultant in emergency medicine at the Leeds Teaching Hospital`s NHS Trust and president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, UK, talked about building a collaborative road for emergency medicine development in Pakistan, via a video link.

Other speakers included Dr Nick Brown, who has been closely associated with the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at AKU for several years; Dr Desmond Mao, an emergency physician at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore; and Dr Nathan S. Bryan, a molecular medicine expert, from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Later in the day, young students of various medical institutions shared their innovative ideas onpatient-friendly efficient emergency care in a session titled `Ignite`.

Organised by AKU`s Critical Creative Innovative Thinking Forum, it intended to light a spark in the audience to think differently.

Saving lives At the inaugural session, experts discussed in detail the impact quality emergency care can have on saving lives and the challenges Pakistanfacedin this held.

It was pointed out that implementation of effective emergency care could help prevent almost half of deaths and over a third of disability in lowand middle-income countries.

`This can be achieved through integrated emergency and trauma care systems with preand postemergency department care nationwide,` said Dr Junaid Razzak, director of the Centre for Global Emergency Care and professor of emergency medicine and international health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr Razzak recalled how he played a role in the establishment of emergency medicine as a specialty in Pakistan and became the founding chair of the department of emergency medicine at AKU his alma mater-in 2008.

`Although College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan recognised emergency medicine as a specialty in 2011, there are not more than nine qualified emergency medicine specialists in the country today, he said.

Describing the situation as alarming, he said that the impact on saving lives could only be achieved through a health system that was sponsored by the state with support from public and private institutions.

According to him, emergency care demands highly functional integrated health system and complex and prompt care decisions.

`We need a multipronged strategy: predict the potential path of emergency care development if we follow the trajectory followed by the high-income, more developed countries and explore how new technologies such as telemedicine, artificial intelligence and machine learning can augment and impact the future of emergency care in lowresourced settings.

Dr Scott Newton, the vice president of Care Model Solutions, talked about how technology was contributing to effective emergency care solutions.

He said: `Globally, emergency medicine is innovating to meet the demands of a growing population.

Increased demands do require an agile workforce ready for hightouch and high-tech practice.

Dr David Arthur, dean of AKU`s School of Nursing and Midwifery and Hans Kedzierski, AKU chief executive officer, also spoke.